Toledo man avoids prison for crash that killed student

Deal puts driver in jail 6 months, yanks license

Sign for Aaron Davis , who was killed in a car crash on the Anthony Wayne Trail in February 2013.

Eighteen-year-old Aaron Davis was driving to school Feb. 13 when the Toledo man turned left onto City Park Avenue from the Anthony Wayne Trail and was slammed by an oncoming car going an estimated 65 mph.

He died two days later.

“Aaron was taken from us in the prime of his life,” his mother, Terri Brown, tearfully told Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ruth Ann Franks Monday. “He was full of life, and he lived life to the fullest.”

Donald McMullin, 36, of 1250 Nebraska Ave., who was driving the car that struck Mr. Davis, pleaded no contest last month to aggravated vehicular homicide. Judge Franks placed him on community control for five years and ordered him to spend six months at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio near Stryker followed by six months of electronic monitoring.

Judge Franks suspended his driver’s license for life and ordered him to pay $18,280 restitution to Mr. Davis’ family for the funeral expenses, among other conditions.

The nonprison sentence was part of a plea agreement approved by Mr. Davis’ family. It carries the added condition that if McMullin violates any part of his probation, he will go to prison for five years.

“Any violation and you’ll go to the institution,” Judge Franks told McMullin. “Do you understand?”

McMullin, for his part, offered an apology to the family members of Mr. Davis in the courtroom. He said he knew of no greater loss than the death of a child.

“I had no ill intentions Feb. 13, 2013, but I accept total responsibility for my actions,” he said. “Please forgive me for my actions. I am sorry, deeply regretful for what I have done.”

Ms. Brown, with her daughter and son’s father by her side, described for the court the trauma the family has been through since the crash, which broke her son’s neck and clavicle.

“Aaron was a hard worker. He was bright, considerate, a polite young man who enjoyed time with his family and friends,” she said. “He loved to go to Cedar Point, and we tried to go twice a year.”

Mr. Davis was on course to graduate from Glass City Academy, she said, but it was his brother and sister who walked across the stage to accept his diploma.

After she asked the court to impose the “fullest punishment," Judge Franks asked Ms. Brown whether her family had in fact consented to the plea agreement that allowed McMullin to avoid prison. She said yes.

“Did you hear that, Mr. McMullin?” the judge asked. “Did you listen to everything the mother said?

"Did you hear her say the word, ‘yes?’ That’s a word of compassion.”

Contact Jennifer Feehan at:

jfeehan@theblade.com

or 419-213-2134.